Sir Chris Hoy said he was shocked and disappointed after Glasgow’s bid to
stage the 2018 Youth Olympics ended in failure when the city was eliminated
in the first round of voting at Thursday’s International Olympic Committee
session

Hoy, who was part of the Glasgow delegation in Lausanne and watched in the audience as British Olympic Association chairman Lord Coe led a slick 15-minute presentation, was incredulous after the city polled just 13 votes out of the total 85 cast in the first round. Buenos Aires secured 40 votes and the Colombian city of Medellin polled 32.

With Glasgow duly eliminated, the election was reduced to a two-way fight in the final round and the IOC membership confounded expectation by choosing the Argentine capital by 49 votes to 39 in a decision that reeked of internal politics.

In an evaluation report on the pros and cons of each bid, Buenos Aires had been rated the weakest of the three candidates because of its chilly climate when the Games are due to take place in the summer of 2018 and, more seriously, doubts about its financial guarantees.

In the same report, Glasgow and Medellin had received high praise for the quality of their sports facilities and were given “low-risk” tags by IOC inspectors.

Hoy said: “I’m shocked. We could never be confident of winning but I never expected to go out in the first round.

“I thought the presentation was excellent and I genuinely don’t think we could have done any more. It was flawless, I thought. But you never know how these things work in terms of the politics of the voting.”

Coe, whose involvement in the bid presentation brought back memories of his stirring speech to the IOC eight years ago when London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, urged members to vote for Glasgow because “it is a warm city and a welcoming city with an unstoppable spirit of fun”.

But this time, Coe’s oratory was not enough to outweigh the obvious disadvantage facing Glasgow — the fact that London had hosted the Olympics less than a year ago.

Coe said: “Clearly, the guys in Glasgow put the proposition together but timing is everything and there is no doubt that there were a few members who were very positive about Glasgow but were clearly thinking about the proximity of London.

“Our friends in Glasgow have run a very good campaign and made a lot of friends in the movement.”

The star turn of Glasgow’s presentation was 15-year-old schoolgirl Lizzie Pollard, who told the story of her move from her birthplace in Guyana to Glasgow to show how the city welcomed people from all ethnic backgrounds. After the vote was announced, she broke down in tears.

Scotland’s sports minister, Shona Robison, said: “I’m disappointed but it’s been an honour to have been involved with a fantastic bid and great to get to the shortlist with two other very strong bids.

“To engage 1½ million young people in Scotland and the UK in the bid process has been hugely rewarding and we’re going to take some of the programmes forward with the Commonwealth Games next year in Glasgow, so there’ll be a legacy from the bidding process.”